Vanessa Amorosi @ Sounds By The River, January ’12

The torrential rains that earlier cut short a set from James Reyne delayed Vanessa Amorosi‘s starting time just enough for the punters who left the grounds during the downpour to make their way back in the grounds.

It also gave us time to shoot a portrait with Vanessa.

The idea was to capture a shot that included Vanessa and also conveyed “Mannum” somehow.

The location also had to be within a quick walk from her backstage tent, so we chose a weeping willow in the back corner of the grounds.

The portrait was lit with a single Ranger “S” head shot through a large Elinchrom softbox.

After firing a bunch of test frames with Haley standing in for Vanessa, we dialled the light to how we wanted and then three frames later with Vanessa in the shot we were done. The rain literally bucketed down on cue and we legged it, along with gear into a nearby tent, happy we had got the shot we needed.